Kevin Lowe's world championship team just got a little clearer

Who knew that Sidney Crosby would be available to Canada and Lowe, the team’s GM, for the worlds in Helsinki?

And Kris Letang on defence. And Jordan Staal at centre. And James Neal on the wing.

And Marc-Andre Fleury in goal?

OK, give me a rewrite on Fleury. Maybe Lowe might not want him.

He’s supposed to be one of the three goalies for Canada’s Olympic team in 2014 in Sochi–Fleury, Carey Price and Cam Ward, if they deem Roberto Luongo too old in two years. But, as much as Fleury, in unsung fashion, held the Penguins together this season when Crosby was out and Staal was out and Letang was out, this Stanley Cup winner in net has looked a lot like Manny Legace in the first three games of the stunningly absorbing, nasty series with the Flyers.

Seventeen goals in 84 shots over eight periods of work. Marc Crawford, who has coached in Colorado and Vancouver and Los Angeles and Dallas, called Fleury’s play “awful” on the TSN between-periods round-table Sunday. Can’t disagree.

Fact is, Fleury hasn’t been very good in his last six playoff games, giving up 26 goals (the last three games to Tampa last spring and now this one with the Flyers) and that’s incomprehensible, really. He’s an excellent goalie, most nights.

So the Penguins lost the game, their goalie Fleury after six goals and 40 minutes (he should have been yanked after one period but they obviously have no faith in backup Brent Johnson) and lost their cool in Sunday’s 8-4 butt-whupping.

Can they win the next four games? Don’t see how. It’s not like they’re losing 2-1 every game, and blaming bad breaks.

Fleury couldn’t stop anything Sunday. Crosby, in a misguided attempt at firing up his team, fought Claude Giroux, slapped Jake Voracek’s glove away as it lay on the ice and Voracek was bending over to grab it, and then decided he’d get into it with The Hirsute One, Scott Hartnell. Sid? You’re the best player in the world. You’re better than that.

I know these teams hate each other. But, I don’t see Joe Sakic ever getting into so many skirmishes. Or Steve Yzerman. Sid would have been better getting six points like Giroux did in game two, but he fell into the same frustrated bear trap as pretty much everybody else on the Penguins, who can’t believe how it’s self-destructed against the Flyers, down 3-0, especially on the powerplay where they’re moving around and scoring like it’s an NHL team vs a midget AAA team.

Albeit, the Flyers are hardly choirboys themselves. Hey, they’re the Flyers. Old habits die hard. But you had Letang fighting Kimmo Timonen, who has never had an NHL fight before. This was started by Crosby, who grabbed Timonen, then Letang waded in. You had Neal clobbering Sean Couturier (should have been interference, because Couturier was nowhere near the puck), then strafing Giroux with a wild shoulder or elbow, momentarily leaving Giroux wobbly.

Then of course we have Aaron Asham, who already expressed shame earlier this season for celebrating a knock down of non-fighter Caps’ forward Jay Beagle by making the “he’s asleep” gesture, cross-checking Brayden Schenn in the face. True, Schenn took a long run at Paul Martin, and left his feet in an obvious charge, but Asham was the poster boy for the Penguins frustration. Give them, two, three, four games off. Not that it’ll matter.

The Penguins are toast. Unfathomable actually, but ever since they jumped to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes in game one they’ve been outscored 20 to 9. Twenty goals in eight periods.

And yes, Penguins centre Evgeni Malkin, who’s going to win the Hart trophy, will be available for Team Russia at the worlds, too.

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